George Fox Digged out of his Burrowes

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George Fox Digged out of his Burrowes (George Fox Digg'd out of his Burrowes or an offer of Disputation on fourteen Proposals made this last Summer of 1672 unto G. Fox then present on Rode-Island in New England) is a book written by Rhode Island founder and Reformed Baptist theologian Roger Williams in 1676. The book discusses the debate regarding traditional Protestant Christianity and Quakerism with its different belief in the "inner light," which Williams considered heretical. [1]

Rhode Island State of the United States of America

Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest state in area, the seventh least populous, and the second most densely populated, but it has the longest official name of any state. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound. It also shares a small maritime border with New York. Providence is the state capital and most populous city in Rhode Island.

In 1672, Roger Williams (at age 68) rowed alone, all night, from Providence to Newport to debate prominent Quakers William Edmondson, John Stubbs (c.1618–1675), and John Burnyeat at nine the next morning. Williams initially wanted to debate the famous English Quaker George Fox, but Fox left Rhode Island without answering Williams' letter inviting him to a debate. In response to Williams' request, the Quakers agreed to debate him for three days in Newport and one day in Providence. Williams' account of the debates was printed in Boston by John Foster in 1676. [2] [3] [4] [5]

John Stubbs (c.1618–1675) was an itinerant English Quaker minister and author who engaged in a well-known debate with Roger Williams in Rhode Island.

John Burnyeat was a British Quaker.

George Fox English Dissenter and founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

George Fox was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and war. He rebelled against the religious and political authorities by proposing an unusual, uncompromising approach to the Christian faith. He travelled throughout Britain as a dissenting preacher, often being persecuted by the disapproving authorities. In 1669, he married Margaret Fell, widow of a wealthy supporter, Thomas Fell; she was a leading Friend. His ministry expanded and he made tours of North America and the Low Countries. He was arrested and jailed numerous times for his beliefs. He spent his final decade working in London to organize the expanding Quaker movement. Despite disdain from some Anglicans and Puritans, he was viewed with respect by the Quaker convert William Penn and the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.

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John Coggeshall Rhode Island colonial president

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Benedict Arnold (governor) Rhode Island colonial governor

Benedict Arnold was president and then governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, serving for a total of 11 years in these roles. He was born and raised in the town of Ilchester, Somerset, England, likely attending school in Limington nearby. In 1635 at the age of 19, he accompanied his parents, siblings, and other family members on a voyage from England to New England, where they first settled in Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In less than a year, they moved to Providence Plantation at the head of the Narragansett Bay at the request of Roger Williams. In about 1638, they moved once again, about five miles south to the Pawtuxet River, settling on the north side at a place commonly called Pawtuxet. Here they had serious disputes with their neighbors, particularly Samuel Gorton, and as a result put themselves and their lands under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, a situation which lasted for 16 years.

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Nicholas Easton (c.1593–1675) was an early colonial President and Governor of Rhode Island. Born in Hampshire, England, he lived in the towns of Lymington and Romsey before immigrating to New England with his two sons in 1634. Once in the New World, he lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony towns of Ipswich, Newbury, and Hampton. Easton supported the dissident ministers John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson during the Antinomian Controversy, and was disarmed in 1637, and then banished from the Massachusetts colony the following year. Along with many other Hutchinson supporters, he settled in Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island, later a part of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was in Portsmouth for about a year when he and eight others signed an agreement to create a plantation elsewhere on the island, establishing the town of Newport.

Walter Clarke (governor) Rhode Island colonial governor

Walter Clarke (1640–1714) was an early governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the first native-born governor of the colony. The son of colonial President Jeremy Clarke, he was a Quaker like his father. His mother was Frances (Latham) Clarke, who is often called "the Mother of Governors." While in his late 20s, he was elected as a deputy from Newport, and in 1673 was elected to his first of three consecutive terms as assistant. During King Philip's War, he was elected to his first term as governor of the colony. He served for one year in this role, dealing with the devastation of the war, and with the predatory demands of neighboring colonies on Rhode Island territory during the aftermath of the war.

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John Wanton Rhode Island colonial governor

John Wanton was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, serving for six consecutive terms from 1734 to 1740. He was the son of Edward Wanton who was a ship builder, and who became a Quaker after witnessing the persecution of these people, also becoming a preacher of that religion. Edward Wanton had lived in York, Maine; Boston, Massachusetts; and Scituate, Massachusetts before coming to Rhode Island.

Richard Scott (1605–1679) was an early settler of Providence Plantations in what became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He married Katherine Marbury, the daughter of Reverend Francis Marbury and sister of Puritan dissident Anne Hutchinson. The couple emigrated from Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, England with an infant child to the Massachusetts Bay Colony where he joined the Boston church in August 1634. By 1637, he was in Providence signing an agreement, and he and his wife both became Baptists for a time. By the mid-1650s, the Quaker religion had taken hold on Rhode Island, and Scott became the first Quaker in Providence.

<i>Portrait of a Clergyman</i> (de Ville) painting by Guilliam de Ville (ca. 1614-1672) dated 1639

Portrait of a Clergyman — sometimes called Portrait of a 17th Century Clergyman or The Unknown Clergyman — is an oil on canvas portrait painting by Guilliam de Ville dated 1639. The identity of the subject, an elderly clergyman, is unknown. It is owned by the Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport, Rhode Island, USA, where it hangs.

References

  1. Camp, Leon R. (1963). "Roger Williams vs. 'The Upstarts:' The Rhode Island Debates of 1672". Quaker History. Friends Historical Association. 52 (2): 69–76. JSTOR   41946414.
  2. George Fox Digg'd out of his Burrowes or an offer of Disputation on fourteen Proposals made this last Summer of 1672 unto G. Fox then present on Rode-Island in New England, printed in Boston by John Foster 1676.
  3. Calamandrei, Mauro (1952). "Neglected Aspects of Roger Williams' Thought". Church History. 21 (3): 239–258. doi:10.2307/3162173.
  4. Lovejoy, David S. (1993). "Roger Williams and George Fox: The Arrogance of Self-Righteousness". The New England Quarterly. 66 (2): 199–225. doi:10.2307/365844. JSTOR   365844.
  5. Lowenherz, Robert J. (1959). "Roger Williams and the Great Quaker Debate". American Quarterly. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 11 (2, Part 1): 157–165. doi:10.2307/2710672. JSTOR   2710672.